There were amazing scenes of sportsmanship, of joy, and of tragedy. A spent Jan Ullrich, the Olympic champion and former Tour winner, reaching out his hand for the hand of Armstrong as they crossed a stage finish line, a heartrending gracious acknowledgement of Armstrong's greatness. Team leader Armstrong choosing to lose precious seconds in the all-important team time trial to wait for a fallen teammate. The face of a young rider triumphantly claiming his first stage victory. A veteran favorite, worn down by bad luck and illness, standing with his bike by the side of the road waiting for the team car to carry him away.
One image I see over and over is the moment in the race when Armstrong decided the time had come for him to put his definitive mark on the grueling 21-day event, ending all speculation about the eventual outcome. A French rider, Laurent Roux, ...
